Water sports have gained great popularity including water skiing and wake boarding in which a power boat pulls the skier behind the boat using a tow rope. The tow rope is attached to the boat and has a handle at the other end thereof for the skier to hold onto. These ski boats often have a tower extending above the boat for the tow rope. Tow rope towers are frequently fixed rigidly to the boat but it is desirable to be able to fold the towers when they are not in use.
Boats commonly have a T-top or soft top covering a portion of the hull and it is desirable to be able to fold these tops at times such as when storing the boat.
Hinged folding ski towers on boats in the past have tended to have hinges that allow the towers to wobble or shift position at the hinges when the tower is raised to an upright position of the hinge. It is also difficult to lock and unlock the hinge when raising or lowering the tower.
The present invention is directed towards a hinge for a boat tower to allow the tower to be quickly raised to an upright position and lowered to a rest position. A rigid hinge base is attached to the deck of a boat which base has a rotating hinge arm supporting a tower thereon. The rotating hinge arm stabilizes and locks the arm in the rest position when the tower is raised. This allows the hinge tower to be supported in a firm and rigid manner when the tower is in a raised position without any sway or movement of the hinge pivot arm.